You are probably aware of the group One Truth but you may not be aware of them when they changed their name to Ipso Facto. I was kind of wondering why they would use a different name for this EP but I think it’s because they wanted to do an album with an 80’s Pop sound without having their previous sound hung around their necks. But I’m left bewildered at why they self produced and released this EP and couldn’t find a label to release it. These guys were established musicians in the industry and should have had no problem with finding someone to release this album. They were previously with Greentree Records and while this album wasn’t the style of album Greentree were releasing at that point in the 80’s but they were owned by Benson who had all sorts of labels that could have released this album. Oh well anyway you should give this EP a quick listen, it has a solid 80’s sound and the track “Michael” will be going into my regular rotation.
Tracklist 1 – Michael – 5:20 2 – Who Will You Blame – 4:50 3 – Heartmaker – 3:37 4 – Multiple Choice – 5:56
Credits Bass – Glen Holmen Bass, Vocals – Andrew Osbrink Drums, Percussion, Vocals – William Dragoo Guitar, Vocals – David John Etzen Keyboards – Smitty Price Lead Vocals, Guitar – Randall Butler Piano, Vocals – Terry Butler
This is Guardian’s 3rd studio album and apparently most of their fans think this is their best album. Personally I don’t listen to them enough to make that judgment but I can say that this is indeed a very good album. It has a 90 Rock sound that isn’t ugly grungy but instead a Rock sound that hearken back to the 80’s but is solidly in the 90’s. The band had settled into the lineup they would best become known for and the guys had it all together for this trip to the Elefante studios in Los Alamitos California. The Elefante brothers also produced the album and it’s probably some of their best work. Interestingly Tom Howard came into the studio to arrange the strings and contributed some strings. Seems kind of strange to see Tom involved with an album like this but great musicians go wherever they are needed.
Tracklist 1 – Dr. Jones & The Kings Of Rhythm – 5:13 2 – Shoeshine Johnny – 4:16 3 – Long Way Home – 4:31 4 – I Found Love – 5:24 5 – Sweet Mystery – 3:58 6 – Let It Roll – 4:11 7 – Mr. Do Wrong – 5:05 8 – Curiosity Killed The Cat – 4:28 9 – Sister Wisdom – 4:12 10 – The Captain – 4:19 11 – You & I – 4:06 12 – Do You Know What Love Is – 7:27 13 – Untitled – 2:07
Credits Arranged By, Directed By [Strings] – Tom Howard Art Direction, Design – David Bach Artwork By [Art Production] – Joe Potter Drums, Vocals – Karl Ney Guitar, Vocals – Tony Palacios Lead Vocals – Jamie Rowe Bass, Vocals – David Bach Engineer – Dino Elefante, Doug Beiden, J.R. McNeely, John Elefante Management – The Whitmore Company Mastered By – Chris Bellman Mixed By – Dino Elefante Mixed By [Assisted] – Doug Beiden Mixed By [Extra Special Thanks To The Master Of Sonic Illusion…] – Gil Griffith Accordion – Glen Hirami Backing Vocals – Brandon Starr, Jameeca LaFleur, JoJo Beiden, Olivia McClurkin Bass – J.R. McNeely Drums – Jamie Wollam Horns – The Fabulous Martin Brothers Percussion – Ian Sabreti Piano, Organ – John Elefante Strings – The Orange County Wire Choir Photography By – Neil Zlozower Producer – Dino Elefante, John Elefante
Slow Revival is the seventh album from Bryan Duncan. This one made it to #5 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Christian chart and had 3 #1 CCM chart hits. “Traces Of Heaven”, “Things Are Gonna Change”, and “United We Stand”. “Don’t Look Away” also made it to #3. 4 top 10 singles on one album is quite the achievement. It was also nominated in the Best Contemporary Album category at the 26th GMA Dove Awards but bizarrely lost out to Take 6. Having listened to both albums now I have no idea how the Dove’s came to that conclusion but whatever. Brian followed up the album with a tour and several people have written that this may have been his best tour.
Tracklist 1 – A Heavenly Light – 4:28 2 – United We Stand – 4:13 3 – Don’t Look Away – 4:32 4 – Your Love, My Saving Grace – 5:17 5 – Traces Of Heaven – 4:53 6 – My House – 4:17 7 – Lonely Tonight – 4:33 8 – Things Are Gonna Change – 5:43 9 – Wheels Of A Good Thing – 3:35 10 – Safe Harbor – 5:08
Credits Arranged By – Michael Omartian, Peter Wolf, Robbie Buchanan Arranged By [Strings] – John Darnall Art Direction – Diana Barnes Backing Vocals – Ann Bailey, Carol Perry, Dan Posthuma, Darrell Brown, David Pack, Lori Perry, Sharon Perry, Shawn Murphy, Tony Gillis Bass – Cedric Lee, John Peano, Neil Stubenhaus Co-producer – Michael Omartian Design – Franke Design Company Drums, Percussion – Carlos Vega, Curt Bisquera, Eric Darken, John Robinson, Steve Latanation Engineer – Mike Mierau Engineer [Additional] – Aaron Swihart, Anthony Thomas, Bert Stevens, Bryan Davis, Dan Garcia, Doug Bieden, Doug Sarrett, Paul Erickson, Ross Pallone, S. Husky Hoskulds, Terry Christian Executive-Producer – Ray Ware Guest, Vocals – Anointed Guitar – Dann Huff, Gary Chapman Keyboards [Additional] – Alan Pasqua, Randy Lee Mastered By – Bob Ludwig Mixed By – Bill Schnee Organ [Hammond B-3] – Alan Pasqua Photography By – F. Scott Schafer Producer – Dan Posthuma Saxophone – David Lhebo Strings – The Nashville String Machine Technician – Eric Slaughter Trombone – Dennis Good
I have to say that this is a bit of a confusing album. It has some country tracks, a rock tracks and some AOR tracks. Now normally this would doom an album as changing styles on an album is not good for sales normally. But in this case it just works. This is a great album and I just loved it. Even with the differing styles they are so well done that I don’t care. The album is well produced and the order of the tracks makes the transition from style to style enjoyable. The album had 4 CCM top 10 singles which must make it one of the best CCM albums historically. “Who Will Be Jesus” made it to #1, “The Great Exchange” #2, “Living In The Pages” #5, and “Elm Street” made it to #9. “Average Joe”, my favourite track, also sneaked into the top 40 at #38. Also “Who Will Be Jesus” won The Dove award for “Inspirational recorded song of the year”. Now that’s a successful album.
Tracklist 1 – Living In The Pages – 4:34 2 – Lay It On Down – 2:47 3 – Elm Street – 4:08 4 – Who Will Be Jesus – 3:51 5 – Average Joe – 4:07 6 – The Great Exchange – 3:51 7 – Wake The Dead – 3:05 8 – I Can’t Love Without You – 2:55 9 – Moment Of Truth – 4:47 10 – You Never Know – 3:16
Credits Bruce Carroll – Vocals Eddie Bayers – Drums Michael Black – Background Vocals Sam Bush – Mandolin, Background Vocals John Cowan – Bass, Background Vocals Eric Darken – Percussion, Tambourine Bela Fleck – Banjo Pat Flynn – Acoustic Guitar Kenny Greenberg – Guitars Buddy Greene – Harmonica Chris Harris – Background Vocals David Hungate – Bass Phil Keaggy – Electric Guitar Solo Brent King – Mixed Wayne Kirkpatrick – Background Vocals Bruce Koblish – String Arranger Paul Leim – Drums, Percussion Dwight Liles – Songwriter Phil Madeira – B-3 Organ Kenny Malone – Drums John Mays – Executive Producer Jerry McPherson – Guitars Duncan Mullins – Bass Phil Naish – Keyboards Nashville String Machine – Strings Mark O’Connor – Fiddle Don Potter – Guitars Chris Rodriguez – Background Vocals Brent Rowan – Guitars Bubba Smith – Producer
There’s not much info on Nicole’s early life but this was her first album. While Nicole became very well known in and about 2000 she was little known at the time of her first album. The album has a great soul feel and while it leans easy listening it’s pretty darn good. I’ve been listening to a fair amount of Easy Listening albums lately and this one ranks pretty high among them. Cindy and Janie Cruse provided backing vocals on a couple tracks that Cindy actually wrote. Tim Miner assisted with engineering and production and I must say that the production of the album is excellent.
Tracklist 1 – On My Way Up – 4:32 2 – Mighty Groove – 3:45 3 – I Need To Know – 3:58 4 – I’ll Be Right There – 2:49 5 – My Everything – 4:11 6 – Don’t Let Me Go – 4:08 7 – Love Is Enough – 3:37 8 – All My Days – 4:31 9 – Oh Jesus Loves Me – 3:15 10 – Somewhere – 1:52
Credits Angie Alan – Vocals (Background) Margaret Bell – Vocals (Background) Darren Bruce – Cymbals Nicole Bruce – Vocals (Background) Kim Bryant – Vocals (Background) Paula Bryant – Vocals (Background) Mark Cassimatis – Engineer Cindy Cruse – Vocals (Background) Janie Cruse – Vocals (Background) Keith Davenport – Keyboards David Ebensberger – Engineer, Keyboards, Mixing, Producer, Programming, Vocals (Background) Michelle Ford – Vocals (Background) Ron Jones – Saxophone Knightlight Studios – Engineer, Producer Win Kutz – Mixing MC Ge Gee – Rap Ed McTaggart – Art Direction Craig Miles – Vocals (Background) Tim Miner – Engineer, Guitar, Keyboards, Mixing, Percussion, Producer, Programming, Vocals (Background) Nicole C. Mullen – Vocals Gregory O’Quin – Keyboards, Programming Craig Penrod – Engineer Karen Penrod – Vocals (Background) Joe Potter – Layout Design Kim Sipus – Vocals (Background) Mark Stitts – Engineer, Vocals (Background) Washington – Rap Brenda Welcome – Vocals (Background) Mike “Hitman” Wilson – Keyboards, Vocals (Background) John Wirtz – Engineer, Keyboards, Mixing, Percussion, Producer, Programming, Vocals (Background)
You might know Terri Gibb better due to her top Pop hit “Somebody’s Knockin'”. She had a pretty good secular Pop/Country career but when it started to fail she decided to do Gospel music. I’m not saying anything negative but this is a trend we saw in the 80’s and admittedly it gave several artists a second run. She had a 3 album run in the Christian music industry and this is the first of those albums. Terri was a great artist so I was expecting a good album. I was not disappointed and while it is an Easy Listening album I quite liked it. I’ve been on a bit of a run lately with Easy Listening albums I quite like but I hope my taste in music isn’t changing because generally this isn’t my preferred genre.
Tracklist 1 – You Can Say It To Him – 3:32 2 – I Can See Heaven – 3:04 3 – Gettin’ Ready – 3:22 4 – Driving Nails – 3:44 5 – Turn Around – 4:22 6 – Run To You – 3:49 7 – What About Him – 4:22 8 – Have You Made Your Reservation – 4:18 9 – Already There – 3:16 10 – Merciful Lord – 3:25
Credits Eddie Bayers – Drums George Binkley III – Strings Jonathan David Brown – Engineer David Davidson – Strings Connie Ellisor – Strings Michael English – Background Vocals Terri Gibbs – Vocals Carl Gorodetzky – Strings Richard Grosjean – Strings Ron Hemby – Background Vocals Jim Horn – Saxophone Danny Johnston – Assistant Engineer Ted Madsen – Strings Carl Marsh – Fairlight Bob Mason – Strings Gary McSpadden – Producer Laura Molyneaux – Strings Farrell Morris – Percussion Brent Rowan – Guitars Gene Sisk – Keyboards Elisabeth Small – Strings Wendy Suits – Background Vocals Dianne Tidwell – Background Vocals Alan Umstead – Strings D. Bergen White – Producer, Background Vocals Bill Whittington – Assistant Engineer Kristen Wilkinson – Strings Hank Williams – Mastered John C. Williams – Bass
Tony is better known to those in the industry as a songwriter. He wrote Steven Curtis Chapman’s hit single “Waiting For Lightning” as well as several more. As is normal at some point he decided to do an album of his own. He actually had 3 albums but this is the only one on a label. Greentree stepped up to release the album and given that it’s on Greentree Records I’m pretty sure you’ve already figured out that it’s an easy listening album. I must admit however that I have listened to this album a few times now and I really like it. That’s not something you usually hear from me as Easy Listening is not my preferred genre. Maybe I was just in the mood for something easy listening but this album definitely hit a good spot for me.
Tracklist 1 – Count It All Joy – 2:43 2 – All The Time – 3:08 3 – Wash Their Feet – 4:06 4 – Our God Reigns – 3:56 5 – We Are One – 3:18 6 – Holy, Holy, Holy – 3:37 7 – Believe – 4:05 8 – The Righteous Shall Endure – 3:21 9 – First Things First – 4:19 10 – It’s Just The First Farewell – 3:46
Credits Bass – Mike “The Duke” Brignardello Executive-Producer – Greg Nelson Graphics – Barnes & Company Guitar – Jon Goin Keyboards – Phil Naish Photography By – Matt Barnes Producer – Phil Naish Recorded By, Mixed By – Jeff Balding Strings – The Nashville String Machine
This is the 3rd and last album from One Truth. Well they did release a 4 track EP in 1983 using the band name Ipso Facto so we did get one more bit form them later. Oh and just a quick note the EP is fantastic. After that EP several members went on to release solo projects but most of them were more in the Worship genre. This album has a great seventoes fell and is probably one of the better 70’s style (not Jesus music) lbums I’ve heard. There’s even a couple of good 70’s rockers on the album. The album jacket had a baseball theme and the album has a track called “Seventh Inning Stretch” featuring an organ playing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”. A bit strange but something different qhich I appreciate.
Tracklist 1 – I’ll Have Enough – 4:01 2 – Rock Or Sand – 5:12 3 – I’ve Never Been There Before – 2:47 4 – Teach Us To Forgive – 6:25 5 – Don’t Be Deceived – 3:40 6 – Satisfied – 3:22 7 – Lord My Desire – 4:17 8 – Seventh Inning Stretch – 0:49 9 – Gonna Run – 3:43 10 – Jesus Wants To Know Each One – 3:15
Credits Greg Butler – Background Vocals Randall Butler – Songwriter, Guitar, Vocals Terry Butler – Songwriter, Keyboards, Background Vocals Bob Clark – Engineer Bill Dragoo – Drums Dave Emerson – Songwriter Dave Etzen – Songwriter, Guitar, Vocals Phil Johnson – Producer, Engineer, Background Vocals Brent King – Engineer Larrie Londin – Drums Andy Osbrink – Bass, Background Vocals Warren Peterson – Engineer Smitty Price – Engineer, Keyboards, Background Vocals Hank Williams – Mastered
Companies, etc. Recorded At – Sound House, North Hollywood, CA Remixed At – Great Circle Sound Mastered At – Masterfonics
This is the fourth album from Adam Again. I have read in about 3 reviews now that this band wasn’t all that successful. Of course we don’t have any access to sales numbers but I heard of these guys in the 90’s after I was done listening to Christian music. Obviously I heard it when I was listening to secular music so obviously it had some recognition there. There’s not too much info on the recording of this album in fact I can’t find anything about how this album came to be. As for the album lyrically it continues to have an R.E.M. feel thinks to Gene Eugene’s vocals but the music has a great 90’s feel. This is one of those albums that falls in the “I didn’t like it” but it is very good category. This was not my style of music but I know a good album when I hear it and this is a great album. Jars Of Clay did an excellent cover of Dig on their 2003 album “Furthermore: From The Studio/From The Stage”.
Tracklist 1 – Deep – 4:15 2 – It Is What It Is (What It Is) – 3:43 3 – Dig – 3:25 4 – Hopeless, Etc. – 4:53 5 – Songwork – 5:28 6 – Worldwide – 2:07 7 – Walk Between The Raindrops – 3:30 8 – Hidden, Hidden – 3:25 9 – River On Fire – 5:46 10 – So Long – 4:19
Credits Art Direction, Design, Photography – Anna Cardenas Bass – Paul Valadez Drums – Jon Knox Executive-Producer [Executive Producers] – Gene Eugene, Ojo Taylor Guitar – Greg Lawless Lyrics By [All Lyrics] – Gene Eugene Mastered By – Brian Gardner Producer [Additional Production] – Greg Lawless, Jon Knox, Paul Valadez, Riki Michele Producer [Produced By], Recorded By – Gene Eugene Vocals – Riki Michele Vocals, Guitar, Electric Piano [Rhodes] – Gene Eugene
Once the Circle Slide tour was complete there were some pretty serious changes for The Choir. First and foremost the band either finished their contract with Myrrh or it expired. I’ve read the story both ways. The band also split up with Steve Hindalong going on to the production side of the industry. Dan Michaels produced a solo project and Derri Daugherty went on to form Lost Dogs. The band came back together in 1992 to record this album at Daugherty’s brand new Neverland Studio in Cerritos, California. The band released it as an independent release and apparently only 6300 copies were made between CD and Cassette. The album has a 90’s Rock sound and was well received by critics but I have heard it wasn’t as well received by fans. I think it would have been better received if fans had been able to buy it a little easier but that’s just one man’s opinion.
Tracklist 1 – Gripped – 4:25 2 – Amazing – 3:49 3 – Kissers And Killers3:00 4 – Weather Girl – 6:00 5 – Yellow Skies – 3:54 6 – Grace – 3:13 7 – Let The Sky Fall – 3:32 8 – Love Your Mind – 5:12
Credits Art Direction, Photography By – Leiza Schmidt Bass Guitar – Tim Chandler Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Steve Hindalong Guitar, Lead Vocals – Derri Daugherty Layout [Art Layout], Design [Assistance] – Gene Ray George Mixed By – Jr. McNeely Producer – Derri Daugherty, Steve Hindalong Recorded By, Mixed By – David Hackbarth, Derri Daugherty Saxophone, Lyricon – Dan Michaels
Companies, etc. Recorded At – Neverland Studios Mixed At – Neverland Studios Mixed At – Pakaderm Studios Mastered At – Digital Brothers Published By – Never Say Never Songs Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia
